» 2006 » March

The Habs and Leafs are set to butt heads again tonight for the second consecutive game at the Bell Centre.

A Habs win will be a fatal blow to Leaf playoff chances and keep the Canadiens right in the middle of the playoff hunt.

After Thursday’s debacle the Canadiens are confident and the pressure is definitely on the Leafs to come up with some kind of respectable effort.

After much recent Leafs success at the Bell Centre I’m positive the Canadiens would love nothing more than dropping the axe on their rivals and assuring their cup drought will continue.

Pat Quinn is guaranteed to lose his job at the end of the year. Quinn was asked by reporters what he thought about Belfour’s season ending and he had no idea what they were talking about. It was pretty embarassing to see. Things between him and John Ferguson are not peachy to say the least.

The Montreal Canadiens came racing out of the blocks last night and it propelled them to a 5-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Habs managed to kill a very early first Leaf powerplay (4th best) and then scored two goals within 12 seconds to take an early 2-0 lead. There was no looking back after that. The Habs exploded for 4 first period goals in a period where they score the least amount of goals in the league. They were ready.

The top guns decided to show up. Saku Koivu made a typical Koivu play racing in and feathering a perfect pass to Higgins for the lead. Kovalev rifled a typical walk-in off the boards laser wrister and Sheldon Souray blasted in another rocket from the point.

If you have been paying attention you’ll notice in the last quarter of the year Sheldon Souray is among the most lethal defenceman in the league. After his poor start it is nice to see him play to his potential and give the Habs big goals.

Taking the lead early really crushed the Leafs. They have gone 5 games without scoring a goal at even-strength which is a stat I don’t think the Canadiens offence has ever sunk too.

Cristobal Huet was solid again and very nearly earned his 6th shut out.

I felt Jeff O’Neill definitely took a cheap shot on Andrei Markov late in the game. Pat Quinn’s attempt at intimidation by sending out a player to fight late in the game failed. O’Neill took it upon himself to ‘send a message’. He wasn’t even involved with Markov but took the oppurtunity to take a shot at his head. The Canadiens best player – who they know is hurt. A cheap and dirty move by O’Neill.

The Habs are 2-2 on their ‘must win 10′ and the Leaf points are obviously extremely imporant. Another win on Saturday will crush the Leafs and keep the Canadiens in contention.

Despite winning the Canadiens are still in 9th place trailing Atlanta by a point. The Thrashers are playing desperate hockey after erasing a 4-1 Devils lead to win their second straight overtime game. The Habs hold the important game in hand which they have to take advantage of to get even with or above the Thrashers.

Doing it once was nice but another big home win against the Leafs would put them out of it for good. A feeling every Canadien fan is hoping to feel Saturday night.